The Tyranny of Queen Celestia
by LiberatePalestine
Summary: Welcome to a new reality, a 3-part story, one where ex-Princess Celestia has become obsessed with unlimited power, ruling Equestria with an iron hoof. In this reality, Twilight Sparkle, having never learnt the magic of friendship, must endure new trials to be capable of overthrowing the oppressor and restoring freedom and harmony. Based of AC3's "The Tyranny of King Washington".
1. Prologue: The Apple

Twilight sat by the fire, staring off into empty space.

She couldn't sleep, and instead just stared. Rainbow Dash had, somehow, convinced her not to bring her books to the camping trip, and she regretted not standing her ground, or sneaking a couple out of the library.

Very dull, indeed. She was even more bored than Pinkie Pie was when she was given a challenge to not host a party for a whole week.

She stared up at the stars, and tried to memorize the constellations, hoping that doing so might put her to sleep in the same way counting sheep gave young fillies and colts shuteye as well.

"Ursa Minor – the Small Bear; Ursa Major – the Big Bear; Orion – the Hunter..."

In no less than 5 minutes, she was finished, and still didn't feel any sleepier.

"UGH!" she exclaimed. "Is there ANYTHING that will at least get me to sleep?!"

Just then, she heard the sound of wings flapping, and the towering figure of an alicorn passed overhead, before it landed with a thud right in front her.

"Twilight Sparkle! Thank goodness I found you!" she exclaimed.

"Princess Celestia!" said Twilight in excitement. "Something wrong?"

"I'm being attacked by a new enemy!" said the princess in a panicked tone. "I fear of being defeated! You are the only one who can help me!"

"Calm down, Princess," said Twilight calmly, "please, sit and tell me the problem."

The regent's muscles slowly loosened, and she breathed a sigh and relaxed, then sat, and Twilight did the same. "Now please tell me what's going on," said Twilight.

"I don't know how to start, my student," said Princess Celestia. "I'm being disturbed by these...dreams. They're tearing my sanity apart."

Twilight frowned. "I never expected somepony like you to be disturbed by dreams," she replied.

"My dear student, you don't understand," she continued. "These dreams, no, these nightmares, they...they fill my head with messed up visions. It starts out in Canterlot, where everything's peaceful, the country prospers, and everypony is happy just the way it is. There is no evil. Everything is peaceful and content."

"It sound like paradise," interjected Twilight.

"No, that's not so," added Celestia, who had gotten up again and was now pacing back and forth around the fire. "The dreams, they become unspeakably mad. You are in them, my faithful student."

The last sentence suddenly rattled Twilight's head. "What?!" she cried.

"It must be a shock to you, but unfortunately, it's true," finished the Princess as she summoned an object from her saddle bag. "I believe the visions come from this." And with that, she pulled out a round object.

It was a translucent sphere, a perfectly rounded apple which glowed at the touch of the princess' hoof. It had strange, foreign patterns on them, like they came form a long time ago.

"Where did you get this...Apple?" asked a very much surprised Twilight, musing at the beauty of the handcrafting of the object.

"When I was exploring the dungeons of Canterlot, I found a hidden vault hidden in one of the rooms. It seems to contain some hidden secrets that were not shown to us before, possibly from a precursor civilization whose secrets were not discovered before. But instead, I came across the Apple. There was something very compelling about it, so I kept it on me."

"May I see it?" asked Twilight curiously. "No offense, but you might not be thinking clearly."

Just then, Celestia's eyes suddenly brightened up, and she said, "Of course. The nightmares...they originate from this Apple." She held the object up, and opened the clenched hoof, while balancing it expertly on it.

Twilight slowly moved a hoof towards the Apple, and placed the hoof on it.

And with that, the world suddenly shone bright, and she felt nothing.


	2. Part 1 – Chapter 1: Awaken

"Twilight, wake up."

Twilight opened her eyes. She caught a full glimpse of somepony in her eyes, but her vision was too blurred to see well enough. Although the pink body and horn, multicolored mane…it seemed way too familiar.

At that, her vision came into focus, and the unicorn – or rather, alicorn, spread her wings and said, "Good, 2 seconds – a new record!"

Twilight had fully awoken in that time, but she just couldn't see the point of having to do this so quickly.

As it turned out, the mysterious pony in her field of vision was none other than…

"…Princess Cadance?"

"Yes, it's me. Did you just call me a princess?" She sounded incredulous.

"But, what are you doing here?"

The supposed Princess just chuckled and said, "What, you thought I had gone wandering off in the middle of the night?" Then her face darkened, and said, "As a matter of fact, actually, I did."

Twilight was clearly confused, and adding to this was when she looked behind her to realize what she was clothed in – a hood made from the pelt of a wolf's head and a robe made from wolf and elk skin, a wooden bow with designs reminiscent of Equestria's native tribes, a quiver with two dozen arrows made of eagle feathers, and a leather saddle bag. Opening it with her magic, she found it contained a raw flesh and corn (which she guessed was bait for hunting animals), a compass, a map and…

"…a tomahawk? What's this for?"

Yes, inside the bag was a hand-crafted silver tomahawk, which reeked of the dead spirits of wild animals, especially wolves. But one stench stood out more than anything. Dried pony blood.

Mysterious.

"Are you still asleep? We need to perform the same ritual again – it's a new day," said Cadance.

"But how…I thought you would still be at Canterlot."

Now Cadance was staring in pure shock. "Canterlot? I've never set foot in that forsaken place. Are you still dreaming?"

Twilight stammered, "Um…no?"

Cadance stared back with an intimidating look, then retracted her face and said, "Whatever, we really should get moving soon."

With the two ponies facing each other, both of them broke out in chorus,

"_Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake._

_Clap your hooves and do a little shake!_"

Then Twilight did something the older alicorn was not expected. She hugged her. Cadance met the embrace with another twist of surprise, then smiled back and made the grasp even tighter and firmer.

"Great," Cadance said, "Let's go."

* * *

Cadance began running through the woods with Twilight following behind. They then ran up a steep hill, and amazingly with relative ease – Twilight almost felt like she was flying.

Unfortunately, it became apparent that something was wrong when Cadance muttered, under her breath but still barely audible, "This could all be my fault," to which Twilight replied, "What is your fault?"

Before she could get a reply, however, a scream pierced the forest, scaring hundreds of birds out of their nests and away. "Let's go!" called Cadance with a sense of urgency.

Both ponies now sprinted towards the noise at a gallop. All of a sudden, despite her hooves still firmly on the ground, Twilight felt that she could fly. A shame when they approached the source, forcing her to stop. At this point, the two of them approached slowly towards the source.

As the screams got louder, several audible voices could be heard.

"ADMIT IT! You are responsible for this heinous crime!" shouted a gruff voice, followed by sobs.

"The Queen said to find a mare with a pink coat! You're a mare. And you have a pink coat!"

Twilight and Cadance stopped and hid behind some bushes. From there, Twilight got a brilliant vantage point to a scene of absolute horror – two Royal Guards berating a straight-haired and bleeding Pinkie Pie.

Cadance turned to Twilight, and the alicorn's voice appeared in her head, "I'll take the one on the left, then you circle around and get the right."

Twilight wasn't sure what that meant, but she opened the bag, and immediately an idea flashed through her head. She used her magic to get the tomahawk, and she placed it in her hoof and clenched it. At that, Cadance ran up to the Guards, shouting "Are you stupid? It's me you want!" And she used her a knife that Twilight had previously not noticed to slit the throat of one of the Guards. Pinkie Pie immediately took that time to escape and gallop away. The second guard got into a hoof-on-hoof brawl with Cadance, and clearly, it was a losing fight for her, so Twilight used her instincts to run forward – and strike.

The tomahawk cut through the Guard's body as easy as a knife cut through a cake. Twilight bore witness to the entire event as blood and body matter splattered out of the body. The sudden rush of adrenaline sheltered her eyes from the unthinkable as Cadance pinned the Guard to a rock and held the knife up.

"Why has Celestia sent her Guards to raid the Everfree?"

When Twilight heard the name, her expression changed to disbelief. _Celestia?..._

The Guard, restrained by Cadance's front leg, managed to stammer, "To find somepony – a mare who took _it _from her."

Appreciating the information, Cadance said, "She will not find me by you." She nodded at Twilight to do the honors.

Almost impulsively, Twilight grasped the tomahawk and sliced it through the stallion's forehead, splitting the head as blood and brain matter spilled out. She clearly saw her handiwork. _Oh Celestia…I've killed a pony_. She turned away to vomit, then turned back to Cadance.

"What could Princess Celestia have to do with this? There's no way she would ever attempt something like this – she would never hurt any innocent ponies."

Cadance turned around, seeming astounded by that. "A lovely fantasy, Twilight. You know she went mad with power long ago. I tried to stop her but failed. And now I've brought her wrath down upon us."

Now Twilight was more confused than ever. "_Us_? I don't understand this. None of this fits. Are we –"

Just then, Pinkie Pie returned, out of breath. She looked right at Cadance and huffed, "Queen Celestia's Guards are raiding Appleloosa! You need to stop them!"

Twilight's confusion turned to shock. "QUEEN Celestia?!"

Cadance, on the other hand, displayed no surprise on her face: rather, one of guilt. "Let's go," she said, monotonously but forcefully. And she pulled Twilight and started running, with Twilight close behind.

The sensation of running through the Everfree Forest at breakneck speed was nothing Twilight felt before. While dodging trees and timberwolves, and attempting to stay on the alicorn's tail, Cadance started muttering again. "I never thought that she would strike out so recklessly," as the expanse of trees ended to reveal vast plains.

"Are you talking about Princess Celestia?" asked Twilight. "Why did Pinkie Pie call her 'Queen'?"

"Many ponies are suffering because of me. Not only the villagers," replied Cadance bluntly. "We must protect as many of them as possible."

* * *

The road to Appleloosa was long, but somehow, probably because of the speeds they ran at, the duo arrived on the outskirts of the town in no time.

Only to find it in flames.

Taking control of the situation, Cadance sprinted up one of the nearby hills overlooking the town, with an exhausted Twilight close behind.

When the pair arrived, they saw two Royal Guards manning a cannon. Hiding behind a bush, they looked on as the Guards fired indiscriminately on the town below.

Cadance motioned for Twilight to look down beyond the ridge. When she arrived, the two saw a desperate townspony pleading with Guards at the town hall, which had its sides stacked with dried wood.

"Only tell us where she is, and we let these ponies live. Refuse and they burn. It's really quite simple," said a Guard standing in front of the building while holding a torch.

"We don't know who you want!" came the reply.

"Very well," said the Guard plainly and remorselessly. The stallion inside suddenly became much more desperate in a final attempt to stop the inevitable.

"Please! Please!" he cried, "There are mares and foals in there! Are you a monster?! DO NOT DO THIS!"

The Guard betrayed no change in emotion or heart as he simply said, "You had your chance." And with that, to Twilight's horror, he threw the torch onto the wood, setting it alight, as a cue for nearby Guards to throw their torches on the unlit piles of wood. The flames from the bonfire quickly licked at the sky, as the sounds of screaming ponies could be heard.

Twilight was too fixated on the atrocity beneath her eyes to even breathe. It was almost hypnotic. This prompted Cadance to kick her legs, snapping her out of it. She shook her head a couple times, then watched as Cadance jumped from the ridge, somersaulted, then landed on her back in a bunch of hay. Knowing better than anything else, Twilight decided to risk the jump.

The moment she leapt off the edge, time seemed to slow down around her. She used the momentum gained from the jump to somersault, as Cadance had, then made a calculated guess as to ensure she landed on her back. All the while, however, she still feared the inevitable _crack _of broken bones.

It didn't happen.

Instead, what she felt was a smooth impact and some rustling. She rubbed her hoof against her legs, and realized that she wasn't dead. Hurriedly, she jumped out of the hay and found Cadance, and their eyes met. Both of them then turned and ran towards the town hall, which was almost completely ablaze.

Cadance then ducked behind a shed, and Twilight did the same. Cadance then wasted no time giving orders. "Do it quietly," she said. "Don't let them see you. Take them by surprise."

One word flashed into Twilight's mind. Kill.

She stood up and ran quietly around. She then ducked into some tall grass, and, after pondering how to get the Guards' attention, whistled. Immediately, one Guard moved towards her. She grasped the tomahawk and prepared to strike.

* * *

The Guard thought that he had heard something. He was about to find out, but seeing as though it came from the tall grass, it would be hard to find.

He approached the grass and started to push it aside with his hoof…

…just as something – or someone – grabbed his neck, pulled him down and sliced his throat.

* * *

Content with the kill, and dispelling the fears of assassinations in such a manner, Twilight rushed out of the grass and hid behind one of the corners of the burning building, and whistled again. Another guard approached her, and she peeked with calculating objectivity, then exhaled and silenced him forever.

She continued to do this until the last corner, at which point Cadance had attacked, and was engaging the four remaining Guards in combat, as they continued to call for reinforcements.

Sure enough, six more Guards came barreling down the hill, but they carried muskets, which Twilight knew about, but had never seen before. They then formed a group and raised their weapons.

Thinking instinctively, Twilight grabbed one of the Guards Cadance was brawling with, wrapped her leg around his neck, and stood to face the musketponies, at which point they opened fire.

Twilight had expected, at that point, for the bullets from the deadly firearms to pierce her body and shred her to pieces. Only that didn't happen. Instead, she witnessed the Guard she restrained shake violently, and saw blood gushing out of four open wounds. And yet, nothing had happened to her.

She put the dead Guard down, then turned to face his comrades, who now began to reload their weapons. Taking advantage of this distraction, she dashed towards the nearest one and struck him down with the tomahawk, then repeated the process as the others attempted to stop her killing spree by attempting to rush reload or melee her with the bayonets on the ends of their muskets.

They all failed.

Twilight stabbed the last Guard dead, where Cadance had overpowered her attackers as well. She tried to open the door, but found it blocked by a wooden beam, and motioned for Twilight to help her. "Free them! This is all because of me!" Both of them grabbed the beam and hauled it off with all their might. Twilight then proceeded to pull the door open, and many townsponies flooded out, while Cadance shouted, "Get as far away from town as possible! Find shelter in the hills!" and Twilight prepared to begin escorting the civilians to help.

However, before she could start, a screaming noise that was progressively getting louder was heard, and Cadance shouted her name as a massive blast knocked her off her hooves, and obliterated several other ponies.

Withstanding the searing pain, Twilight got to her hooves and watched as a cannonball arced through the air and struck the spire of the town hall, sending huge and deadly chunks of it raining down like meteors.

The death dance had begun as many more cannonballs soared through the sky, killing many more ponies here and there. Immediately Cadance sprang to her feet, as did Twilight, and both of them galloped through the town, heading towards the front line.

"Make haste! Hurry!" shouted Cadance as the two narrowly avoided another cannonball. "I won't forgive myself if we don't stop them!"

Twilight's confusion was back again. "This is madness! I can't understand what's going on!"

Parting a bush away, the two charged at a group of Royal Guards and struck them down, as another pony, this time being a massive Earth pony stallion whom Twilight had never met, but could see had war paint on his face, ran up to attack the Guards as well, tackling them to the ground and breaking their necks.

The job was easily finished, but a harder task was ahead.

"You!" shouted Cadance to the pony that assisted them, "help me in arming the cannons!" He immediately obliged, and loaded one cannonball into the cannon. Cadance looked back at Twilight, and called to her again, "The Queen's army is advancing! Use the gun to stop them!"

At that moment, Twilight took note of the massive formations of a dozen Royal Guards marching towards the town, and realized what she needed to do. She made a quick calculation on the cannonball's trajectory, rotated and aimed the cannon, and lit the fuse.

With a deafening boom, the cannon fired, launching the cannonball into the air and down onto the first formation of the marching Guards, sending them flying and dismembering their limbs as muskets, helmets and armor spilled onto the path.

For some reason, the others didn't even flinch from the explosion, so after Cadance and the other stallion reloaded the cannon, Twilight made her next calculation, then aimed it and fired, obliterating the next formation, and, thanks to well-placed aim, part of the third.

Knowing better than to hesitate and wait for the Guards to commit what atrocities they might be planning, Twilight made another aim as the next cannonball was loaded, and fired.

She ended up repeating the process seven times, and when it was all over, all the Guards lay in jumbled and dismembered remains. Blood spilled onto the path as moans of pain filled the sky.

It was a gruesome sight, but it might as well have been for the better. As the three studied the battlefield, they caught a glimpse of a handful of Guards that stood still behind the trees before running off.

Feeling the signs of victory, Twilight said, "They're retreating! We have done it!"

Cadance, however, spoke the exact opposite. "Celestia's troops don't retreat – they advance or die!" She turned towards the direction of the desert plains. "To Dodge City – we'll have a better vantage point there." And with that, she took off again, with Twilight on her rear hooves.

* * *

As the terrain became a vast desert, Cadance started muttering again. "If only I had succeeded in taking the scepter. Now I must make amends."

"Scepter?" asked Twilight. "Cadance, this is much more difficult to understand now."

Just then, another group of Royal Guards jumped out behind several trees, armed with cutlasses, muskets and even a couple axes in the hooves of brutes.

The six Guards encircled the two, and charged to destroy them, but Cadance was able to get into combat with them, as did Twilight, and in no time, both of them finally overpowered and killed them as well.

With the ambush effectively crushed, the two continued on to Dodge City as thick, ugly smoke appeared on the horizon.

* * *

Eventually, the pair entered the burning city, while avoiding fleeing civilians on the path, but Cadance suddenly skittered to a halt, as did Twilight, both of them taking note of a figure on the path ahead.

"There she is!" it – or rather, she – muttered. "The savage that tried to steal this –" as she held up a scepter containing a glowing orb, "– the source and symbol of my power! Gaze upon it! For it will be the last object you will ever see!"

The mare then turned and spoke to them in a voice that chilled Twilight's bones. "I come here to destroy both you and your sad farm, for none like you will be allowed to live."

Cadance quickly armed herself, but Twilight decided to risk a face-to-face confrontation.

"Princess Celestia! Why are you doing this? After all we've accomplished! Take hold of your senses!"

The Mad Queen just laughed, and said, "Another delusional savage. I've never had such a firm grasp on my senses. Now bend your knee to your monarch, and make penitence in the last moments before you are blasted to your dread reward!" She then turned to a Royal Guard next to her. "Corporal!" she barked, "Take care of them." And with that, she ran off, leaving a hundred Royal Guards too busy sacking the town and murdering innocents to notice.

The Guard immediately obliged, and with one fluid hoof motion, all the other Guards turned and attacked the two. It was at that point when Cadance noted the arrival of several guards carrying torches, running towards powder kegs set up in the town, and decided to give a warning.

"Twilight! Royal Guards over there! Kill anyone who tries to set off the powder kegs!"

Taking heed of the warning, Twilight charged as Cadance began making a stand against as much of the army that attempted to attack her. The Guards were running at full speed to the kegs, but Twilight knew that they were no match for her speed – their torches hindered their performance.

Wielding the tomahawk once more, she first flanked the Guards from behind, stabbed one, then gave chase to the rest and taking them down repeatedly, before proceeding to assist her friend once more.

She felt unstoppable as the deadly weapon sliced through the ponies' flesh as they hit the ground, spilling blood and, in some cases, bodily organs. It was a sickening sight, but she took no notice, instead being fueled by the necessity to defend freedom.

Finally, the last one died. Twilight and Cadance stopped, and panted several times, before holstering their weapons and looking around at the burning town around them.


	3. Part 1 – Chapter 2: Warn the Village

As both Twilight and Cadance stared at the burning ruins of the town, a wave of shock overwhelmed them.

"She tried to destroy the whole town," said Cadance, holding back tears. "This is all my fault."

Twilight turned, and said, "I don't understand. Celestia knows me. She is a mare of reason. But that was not the mare that was my mentor."

Cadance's voice faltered as she turned and said, "Are you crazy? When would you ever have met that monster?"

Twilight, for the first time in a while, stuttered, "I met her…I…Cadance, this is all wrong. Celestia, the violence, all of it!"

Cadance turned around, shaking her head, and said, "We must get back to Ponyville and warn the townsponies before the Mad Queen spreads her destruction there." And with that, she took off again, with Twilight on her rear hooves.

As they re-entered the vast plains, Twilight couldn't help but look back at the remains of the once thriving town. "The Dodge Junction I knew was a great desert community. Now it's a place of disaster."

* * *

The two continued running at breakneck speed, knowing what would happen if the plague of destruction spread.

All of a sudden, right as the town came into view, six Royal Guards immediately lashed out, jumping the duo.

"Ambush!" shouted Cadance as she wielded the knife, while Twilight raised the tomahawk.

Just then, a cry filled the skies around. Immediately, many ponies that Twilight remembered burst out of the bushes and began to brawl with the Guards, overpowering them with ease, then putting them down.

Cadance decided to take the matter at hand to them. "Mad Queen Celestia is on a warpath and intends to destroy Ponyville. We need every able body to protect it. Please, come with us."

Applejack, who was one of the ponies in the group, spoke up. "We know. Granny Smith sent us to collect fruits and bark from the Golden Apple–"

Cadance immediately cut her off. "To make the tea?! Has she lost her mind?! The tea's pitfalls overshadow its power. You cannot do this!"

Apple Bloom also took the opportunity to speak. "We can't disobey the Town Elders."

Cadance couldn't take it anymore. "Believe me, the tea of the Golden Apple is folly. Come back with us."

"We'll fulfill the Town Elder's request," said Applejack monotonously. "We'll collect the fruits. Speak to Granny Smith, an' if you can convince 'er, we'll burn 'em."

Cadance replied, "I intend to," before she motioned for Twilight to move with her head.

As they began walking into the town, Twilight's curiosity was spurred again by something she didn't know. "What is the tea of the Golden Apple?"

Cadance looked at her and said, "Something we should never have discovered. It is the tea brewed of the Golden Apple Tree's powerful fruit and consumed by our warriors. It grants certain…strengths, Twilight, but for every physical transformation it gives, it leads to loss of control over the mind. It must never be made."

"Did you drink it?" asked Twilight.

"Never," said Cadance. "But I have seen what happens to those who do. Your family tree extends to many ponies of violence, including your brother. Please, do not drink it."

* * *

It didn't take long for the two to reach Ponyville, where, in the centre of the town, around a fire, sat Granny Smith, among other town elders. Cadance immediately rushed forwards, and expressed her rage by immediately getting in Granny Smith's face.

"You intend to brew the tea of the Golden Apple?! Have you forgotten the consequences of drinking it? I have not."

Granny Smith raised her head, and replied, "No, Cadance, we have not. However, we now face a threat in the form of the Mad Queen, and now there are no other paths."

Cadance's rage was noticed immediately as the hissing noise of a teapot erupted from her nose, and steam started to pour from her ears. "No other paths? We can fight them as ponies! Twilight and I have had success, just both of us. Imagine the strength of the whole town!"

"And how many of these fearless Royal Guards have you brought down at one time?" Granny Smith asked. "Two? Five? Ten? Thousands will come to destroy us – thousands that YOU awoke," she continued, pointing a walking stick (or staff, Twilight couldn't tell) at the pair. "Our town's survival depends on the strength and power from the Golden Apple."

"You are as mad as the Mad Queen," fumed Cadance. "Do what you will, but we will never drink the tea."

* * *

As Twilight and Cadance sauntered towards the library, Cadance continued to vent her anger. "Stupid old mare!" she grumbled.

Twilight knew that Cadance's temper wouldn't improve if she didn't take her mind off what happened, so she said, "What would you have us do, Cadance? We have no choice but to fight."

Cadance took a deep breath in, then sighed as she said, "I know. I have something that will help. Something from your brother."

Twilight's eyes widened in surprise as she said, "My…my B.B.B.F.F?" she gasped.

Cadance nodded, as she opened the door to the library. "He left it for you long ago, before the rise of the Mad Queen. He knew this would happen, and he knew he would die, so he wanted you to continue his work."

Before Twilight could ask any further questions, Cadance walked up to where Spike's crib once was.

The sight saddened Twilight. "Where is Spike?" she asked.

Cadance turned with an incredulous expression and asked, "Didn't you know? He was a victim of the initial dragon genocide. We tried to protect him, but he insisted on taking on the Queen's army alone. Now we don't know what happened to him. We can only hope he's still alive."

The revelation hit Twilight like a ton of bricks. She couldn't help it as a tear rolled down her cheek, but she quickly sniffed and said, "What did my brother leave for me?"

Cadance turned towards a small box and opened it, then used her magic to bring the contents up.

"What in the name of…" gaped Twilight as she stared at the device. It was a pair of leather bracers, branded with several different designs, including an insignia Twilight could not recognize. And as if that was not strange enough, underneath it was a completely different story – a blade attached to a mechanism that even she didn't know how it worked.

Twilight stared at the device in awe, and started pondering over how it worked. Cadance, noting her problem, said, "Put it on."

So she did.

"Now flick your hoof," said Cadance.

Twilight raised her left hoof, and, following Cadance's advice, flicked it in one quick, fluid motion. Suddenly, the blade extended, revealing its razor-sharp edge, the crystal-clear steel reflecting her image. That only lasted a second, before the deadly weapon retracted, leaving nothing.

Twilight couldn't believe was kind of a device this was on her hooves. With that kind of a capability for it to remain hidden, it was bound to be extremely dangerous. _Why has Shining Armor left this for me? Where is he? What's going on? What's happened to everypony?..._

Her thoughts were interrupted by another explosion outside, shattering the library windows and knocking down half of the books inside.

"They're here!" cried Cadance as she dragged Twilight outside, as another cannonball struck the library, pummeling the structure. Suddenly, a huge wave of Royal Guards immediately surged forward, slaughtering mares and foals and torching buildings, while the few that managed to escape started to run.

Twilight was immediately confronted by a dozen Guards as Cadance rushed off to another part of town to help. She flicked her two hooves, and the blades immediately protruded from the bracers. Acting instinctively, she attempted to stab one of the Guards who had approached her face, but he managed to block the attack with his bayonet before launching a counterattack. Fortunately, her quick reflexes saved her, and she decided to close the distance against him.

She quickly jumped, extended the blade, and tackled the Guard, at the same time stabbing him. This time, the Hidden Blade did its work well, and the fatal strike on the Guard's neck instantly finished him.

Of course, Twilight knew she couldn't rely on this kind of a method to take them down, so instead, she went into direct combat with the Hidden Blades, as she continued to vent her anger at the massacre before her eyes.

In several lapses when she could get a short glimpse at the disaster zone, she could not believe what was happening before her eyes. Huge masses of ponies, dead, sprawled on the ground. Several mares, barely conscious, continually being raped in turn by the Guards, as a few other Guards formed a firing squad and shot at a group of terrified fillies. A few stallions, wounded but still able to fight, continued to hold off the assault with nothing but their bare hooves, kitchen knives and muskets taken from the bodies of the few Guards that died in combat.

The horror of what was happening before Twilight's eyes was too much. She immediately struck back, bringing down many Guards, one by one.

_If the town is going down, I'm going down with it! _she thought as she overpowered and then killed two more Guards.

The remaining Guards surrounding her started to panic. Some attempted a desperate last stand, only to die, while others rallied to form a firing squad. One group managed to do so, but even then, Twilight managed to grab a Guard she was brawling with, and shielded herself, as the bullets all missed her.

She became an unstoppable force, as she began to take on nearly a hundred Guards attacking her with their bayonets, and each time, she made a clean kill without feeling the least bit of pain, except from an occasional stab in the flank, and even then she managed to withstand the stings and overpower her foes.

As their numbers dwindled, however, Twilight noted from the corner of her right eye that three newcomers had arrived.

"Commander Spitfire, General Soarin,'" said Queen Celestia, "I sometimes despair of our project. I question my abilities, and my strength." She paused, and surveyed the battlefield, before continuing on. "But with you two at my side, I believe we will bring greatness to this country, and we will bring it with hooves of iron!" she said, before asking, "May I have assurances of your loyalty?"

"You have my solemn pledge," said the Captain (or rather, Commander) of the Wonderbolts.

"And mine," added her second-in-command.

With that, the Queen said, "Thank you, honorable soldiers. The Equestrian Empire will remember you forever." As she finished with that closing remark, Spitfire unsheathed a cutlass, and shouted, "Give no quarter to the tolerators!" before running off.

As she did, Cadance approached Celestia, as Twilight stabbed the Hidden Blade through the last Guard, and looked in full view of the confrontation.

"You will not succeed here!" she cried, looking at the Queen with intent.

"You?" chuckled Celestia, "How astonishing. This time I'll make certain of your death."

With that, she raised the scepter as the orb within it glowed a brilliant light, and she lowered it, aiming at Cadance. Twilight could only watch her friend charge as a sudden flash of light engulfed the alicorn's body, and she immediately stopped, as her legs collapsed and she fell to the ground.

"CADANCE!" cried Twilight as she ran over, kneeling before her friend's body and weeping. But then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a figure and a bright light.

"Celestia…!" she gasped, as the figure of the white alicorn towered over her.

Her only instinct at this point was to charge. To avenge her town. Her friends.

She took the tomahawk out, and twirled it in her right hoof a couple of times, before running.

"You are fighting the force of purity!" shouted the Queen as she held the scepter up, and another light consisting of many strange patterns appeared, repelling Twilight's charge and sending her hurling backwards. Twilight knew she could not give up, so she staggered to her feet and charged again.

Queen Celestia, however, was unfazed by this, and unleashed another beam of light, directed at Twilight directly. The vengeful unicorn was struck to the ground again, as she struggled to reach the Queen, who powered up the scepter once more.

"With my power, I will rule over a world of harmony!" she shouted before slamming the orb into the ground, sending several patterns of light hurtling through the ground, hurling Twilight several yards.

The Queen then proceeded to walk over to the fallen unicorn, before pulling out two pistols, shooting Twilight in the abdomen. The pain was nothing that Twilight ever felt, as she writhed in pain while her blood began to stain the earth.

In the lapses when her vision could fade into focus, she saw the Queen gesture to Soarin' for a musket. "Give that here," she said. "For good measure," she added, before stabbing Twilight in the abdomen with the bayonet as she cried out in pain, and shooting her at point blank.

Twilight collapsed from the shot, and her vision fell out of focus. The last thing she could make out was the dead body of what was once her friend and foalsitter.


End file.
